Aftermath
by laellin
Summary: The war has ended and Temari isn't able to find Shikamaru anywhere. She can't help but think the worse has happened.


It had ended. It was finally over and Temari had both of her brothers alive. But someone was missing. She searched and searched until she finally stumbled upon a familiar face. "Where is he?" Temari typically tried to keep a pretty emotionless front, but at this moment she didn't care. She had seen him basically die, only to be revived shortly after. What she couldn't do was get the image of him dead out of her head. She hadn't heard anything about him since they had all woken up from their dreams. "Where is Shikamaru?" She was clutching Sakura's shoulders and the woman could see the desperation in Temari's eyes.

Sakura simply grabbed her wrist and drug her for what seemed like forever to the other side of the camp. They made their way through all of the survivors of what seemed to be mostly Konoha ninja. She recognized a few faces among the crowd. The two women approached a giant tent with Kiba and Lee standing outside. Kiba locked eyes with the Sunan and smirked. He knew why she was there and he would be teasing Shikamaru later.

They entered the tent and Temari was greeted with what seemed to be the rest of the Konoha Eleven. Everyone appeared to just be hanging out. Naruto was laid out on a mat on the ground, clearly injured from the battle. She noticed he was missing an arm.

Still searching the room, she spotted everyone before him. Nobody else' injuries were as bad as Naruto's, obviously. But she finally saw him. He was sitting near Naruto. Her face softened for a moment. He still looked really weak, even after being healed. This battle really took a toll on him. But she felt relief at the fact that he was still alive.

When the flap of the tent closed everyone shifted their attention to the two women who had just entered. Temari felt her heard skip a beat, but then composed herself. She seemed to be scowling to everyone else, but Shikamaru smirked. He looked to Choji and lift his hand up, asking for help. Choji latched onto his best friend's hand and helped pull him up. Shikamaru took a moment to focus on standing and then walked over to her.

She stood up straight as he made his way to her and everyone watched in silence. He smiled at Temari, a smile only Temari got. She wasn't quite sure whether she wanted to hug him or slap him for making her worry the way she did. "I-" She was cut off when he pulled her into a hug.

Temari was typically a very poise woman who chose pride over everything. Everything she had ever known was telling her to pull away from such an embrace, especially in front of a crowd. But fuck it, he almost died. She could have lost him forever but she didn't. Temari wrapped her arms around him and returned the hug. "You scared me." She spoke. He squeezed harder.

"I'm sorry." He replied. Everyone in the tent was smiling at the two. They had all known that Shikamaru and Temari had a special bond, but they weren't really sure how far it went. But this moment made it very clear. "I'm so happy you're okay." She sighed and pulled away from him.

"Shikamaru, your dad.." He looked away. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something we could have done." He shook his head.

"It was a war. We were bound to lose people." He looked back at her. "Your brothers?" She nodded, a sad smiled on her face. She felt bad that both of her brothers were still alive but Shikamaru lost his father. Someone he was very close with.  
"I'm glad they're okay." He smiled at her. In a moment, he started to lose his balance. She caught him before he was able to fall and moved him back to where he was sitting.

"You idiot." She spoke in a harsh voice. "If your injuries are still bad then you shouldn't move around." He just shrugged his shoulders and smirked. Choji smirked._ If only Shikaku was here to see his son had fallen for such a troublesome woman. _

"Can you stay?" He asked her. She made a face as if she wanted to but was going to say no. "Please." She rolled her eyes.

"Not too long. Those two idiots can't function without me for too long." He scooted over on his mat so she had a place to sit.

"How are things on Suna's side?" Naruto asked. Temari turned her head to look at him.

"Terrible. We've lost so many, though everyone seems to be in good spirits. I guess they're just happy to be alive." She saw him clench his fist.

"I'm sorry." She was shocked to hear. Everyone in the room was shocked to hear.

"It's not your fault, Naruto." She spoke and everyone put their eyes on her. "You're not the only one responsible for this war. Could we have won without you? No way in hell. But, it's the Allied Shinobi Force for a reason. We all fought and we all lost people because it was equally all of our responsibility." Shikamaru grabbed her hand and squeezed and then let go immediately.

Naruto wiped his eyes and smiled. "Thank you, Temari." She smiled back at him. "You know, you're not as mean as everyone says you are." She scowled.

"Wow, thanks." Was her reply and the people in the tent all laughed. They continued talking about the war and going over everything that had happened. At one point, Temari wasn't really sure when, Shikamaru got tired and started leaning on her. She was going to let it slide considering he probably couldn't hold himself up.

She had lost track of time and suddenly the flap to the tent opened again. It was Kankuro. "There you are! I should have known this is where you'd be." He smirked at his sister.

"What's wrong?" She raised an eyebrow. Clearly it wasn't an emergency because he had that stupid look on his face like he was about to tease her.

"Nothing except Matsuri is all over Gaara and I did not want to be around that so I was hoping to find someone else to hang out with but it seems you're doing the same thing." She rolled her eyes.

"Instead of hanging out with your sibling all of the time why don't you try to make some friends?" He scoffed.

"Are you kidding me? I have plenty of friends! Sorry for wanting to spend time with my sister after we could have both died." She laughed.

"Name one friend." He quickly looked around the tent and wrapped his arm around Kiba's shoulders.

"Dog boy and I go wayyy back. Don't we?" Kiba smirked and put Kankuro in a headlock.

"Yeah, way back to when you tried to destroy my village." The Konoha crush was still a touchy subject for Temari. Everything about it makes her uncomfortable and she hates talking about it. But it seems as if the people of Konoha joke about it now.

"Hey! That wasn't my fault. Besides, I was talking about me saving your ass from that two headed freak!" The two kept going on about who saved who and who was the better fighter. Most everyone had left except Shikamaru, Temari, Naruto, who was asleep, and Sakura.

Temari checked the time on the pocket watch next to Shikamaru's when she noticed that he was basically asleep. "It is getting pretty late. I should probably go. We're going to try to head back to Suna as early as possible tomorrow." She had elbowed Shikamaru awake so he was now sitting up and rubbing his side. She stood up and stretched. Shikamaru laid on his mat and closed his eyes. "Goodbye, lazy." He opened one eye.

"Why don't you just stay?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Come on, you can spend the night. It's okay. We're just sleeping." He sounded like he was high on some type of medication. Suddenly his mood changed into a much sadder one. "I don't want to be alone." She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands.

"Fine." She said. Sakura smirked and got Temari a spare pillow before moving to her mat closer to Naruto so she could monitor him in his sleep.

Temari took her shinobi jacket and headband off, followed by her shoes. She laid flat on her back next to Shikamaru who turned to face her and pull her into an embrace. "You need a shower." She whispered.

"So do you." Temari smirked at his response and soon the two were fast asleep.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! I hope this was okay. I've been wanting to read post-war fics but I feel like I've read them all. Anyway, let me know what you think! :)**


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